Most of us, if not all of us have had to prepare for an in-person interview. We know we have to make a great first impression on the hiring manager or recruiter. We choose the right outfit, practice our responses and arrive 15 minutes early to demonstrate we’re always on time.
But preparing for a telephone interview for a work-from-home job is a little different. You still have to prove yourself as the perfect candidate for the position you’re applying for. But instead of picking out the perfect outfit, practicing your smile and reminding yourself to make eye contact, there are other things you have to do to prepare for a telephone job interview
There’s nothing like being prepared. It gives you a certain level of confidence when you can come back with an answer, like BANG! In this post, I’m going to share four important tips to help you rock your telephone job interview and finger’s crossed lands you a job offer!
#1 Be In Your Work Area
The first thing you want to do is make sure you are in your home-office or work space during your interview. Setting the right environment will give you a “this is business” feeling. If you’re in a popular area of the house like the living room you’re most likely to be tending to the kids or dealing with pets. You won’t be able to focus on the questions and your responses can be affected because of the distractions around you.
Speaking of distractions…
#2 Close Email and Social Media Profiles
It would be a good idea to keep personal email and social media profiles minimized. Better yet, close the windows altogether during the interview. And keep the TV and music off as well. You want to be focused on your goal of nailing the interview and landing the job.
And if you’re using a landline for the interview, which is recommended to avoid dropped calls, disable call waiting service if you can and keep your mobile phone on “silent” during the interview.
#3 Have Your Computer Ready
Some interviews might include a computer exercise to demonstrate your skill level. I remember during my interview with Transcom – they were Cloud10 at the time – I was asked to explain how to cascade a window, how to freeze a row or column pane in Excel and how to paste an Excel spreadsheet into a Word document.
Be sure you know your operating system because you may be asked to explain how to find that.
- For example in Vista and Windows 7, you’ll click Start, enter computer in the search box. “Right click” on computer and click on Properties.
- In Windows 8, on the start screen, type “computer” and right click on it, then tap or click Properties. Look under “windows edition” for the version and edition of Windows your PC is running.
- In Windows 10, go to start, enter “about your PC”, then select “about your PC”. Look in PC for Edition to find out which version and edition of Windows your PC is running. Look under “PC” for system type to find out if you’re running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows.
One More Thing
It would be good to know how to move around your control panel just in case you’re asked to perform small tech support tasks.
#4 Have Your Resume Handy
Have a copy of your resume opened and ready to refer to it during the interview just in case you’re asked to elaborate on experience or skills. Your resume can be a great guide to help you give the best responses.
Over To You
I think it’s safe to say an interview wouldn’t go very well if there were computer problems during the interview or if the call is lost because of a mobile phone issue so I sure hope these four tips come in handy for you.
Good luck!
